“She’s my daughter.” Said the ghost ajumma.
“ooh.” The four nodded.
“Mimi right? You can see your mommy?” Zico met eyes with the little girl. She just nodded, still without saying anything.
“How did you know we can see ghosts too?” he asked the girl again. She wasn’t responding so he looked at her mother.
“She cannot speak.” The ajumma replied.
“Why?” Sulli asked as Daniel elbowed her. “What?” she made face.
“It’s okay.
Eversince, I die- .. I left them, she wasn’t able to speak anymore.” She replied, sadness can be seen in her eyes.
“Little girl, do you want us to help you in any way?” Hara took the girl’s little hand and smiled so gentle.
Zico can’t help but be mesmerized whenever she smiles like that.
Mimi nodded and pointed to her mom again.
“Do you know what she wants?” Hara turned to ask the ajumma.
She nodded ones. “She wants you to cross already right?” Hara asked with a meek smile
The ajumma nodded.
They all settled at a shaded part near the rocks.
“I’m sorry if my daughter had to disturb you.” The ajumma bowed apologetically.
“It’s okay. I’ve been dealing with this kind for a while.” Hara said.
“I can see that. Are they your friends?” she asked.
“Ne. This is Daniel and Sulli. And I am Hara, this is my youngmaster Zico.
You are?” Hara introduced everyone.
“My name is Lee Ji Ae. Mimi is my youngest child. We live nearby.”
“Isn’t it dangerous for Mimi to be here? A little girl her age shouldn’t be by herself by the water.” Daniel said.
Hara and Zico sat at a rock with their toes in the water while the conversation continued. Mimi was on Hara’s lap.
“I always tell her not to come here for me but she would always come every day.”
“That’s because she misses her mom.” Zico softly said, longing can be heard on his voice.
*Oppa* Sulli’s face was sad as well. Hara turned to him. She knew he misses his parents too.
“But you know you will have to leave her soon right?” Hara spoke.
The ajumma nodded then responded “She’s also aware of that and I have explained already to her. She comes here because she wanted to find someone who can help me to cross.”
*Strong girl* They all thought.
“Speaking of that. If you don’t mind, may I ask how you .. uhm .. you ..” Hara was awkward to say ‘Died’.
The ajumma understood and smiled. “Brain tumor.” She shortly replied.
“If you weren’t killed, why do you think is the reason for you not crossing over yet? What unfinished business do you still have?” Hara asked again. Zico was just silently observing how Hara’s handling the situation.
“My son.”
“What about your son?” Sulli asked.
“I think it’s because I wanted his forgiveness, that's why.”
“What’s his name?” as soon as Hara asked, someone called out.
“Mimi-ah!” the guy that Zico fought with back in the resto came.
“Byunghun” ajumma called.
“You?! What are you doing here?!” Zico stood with a bit furious tone.
Mimi tugged on his shirt and shook her head towards Zico.
“A better question is, what are YOU doing here with my dongsaeng?” the guy raised his brow in an annoying way and pulled Mimi behind Zico.
“Dongsaeng?!” Everyone repeated.
“He’s my son.” The ajumma proclaimed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
“Oppa let’s go.” Hara said as they walked away from the Lee’s.
She looked back to the ajumma and saw how pitiful she was.
*I promise to get back and help you* she said on her mind.
 
Hara and Zico took their lunch as soon as they arrived at the resto while Daniel and Sulli was left with Ji Ae to know her story.
“Byunghun has always hated me ever since my husband’s parents took him from me.” Ji Ae started.
“But why would they take him from you? He’s your child.” Sulli sympathetically asked.
“They have always hated me ever since my husband and I were dating just because our family had issues way way back our ancestors’ time. But since my husband fought for me and he was the only heir of their family, they can’t do anything about it. We got married and I got pregnant. When they knew it was going to be a boy, they were so happy since it will be their heir in the future. I thought that because of my son, they will start treating me nicely. When I gave birth to him they were always at our house and treated me well, but only when my husband is around. When Byunghun was three, that’s when they started to pick him at our house to spend time with, then dropped him off only when they want to. I seldom got to be with my own child. Little by little, my baby became distant from me. Emotionally and physically. They took him to the States for his studies, they said. I was left with my husband. We celebrate occasions together but Byunghun never went back to us. Her grandma says he’s too busy. And when I get to talk to him on the phone I felt how cold he is towards me. Until my husband died. He had a massive cardiac arrest. That’s the only time my son and his grandparents flew back here. By the time I saw my son again, he was like, a very different person.” The ajumma started sobbing. Sulli rubbed her back soothingly.
“When he went to me, I was expecting a hug or ‘I miss you’ from him. But instead, he was mad at me. He said it was my fault that his father died. That I didn’t took care of him well and that I was only thinking about myself. He was already brainwashed by his grandparents through all those years that he wasn’t with me.” She continued.
“I was pregnant with Mimi when my husband died. And just like what they did to my son, they took Mimi from me few years after I gave birth to her. But Mimi was like her father. Stubborn and smart at the same time. At a young age, she learned how to go to our house from their grandparents. I was trying to reach out to Byunghun through Mimi but he would always reject me. The day of my husband’s burial was the last day I saw him. He never went back to see me.
One day I felt an intolerable pain from my head. I went to see a doctor and that was the time I was diagnosed with a stage four cancer. I didn’t tell anyone, not even Mimi. When she goes to my place and saw me lying at my bed, I’d tell her I was just tired. She will then massage my head and tell me stories of her at school and her brother. Mimi tried to tell Byunghun to visit me since she noticed I was always lying on my bed everytime she visits me, but he never showed up. Until one day, I heard Mimi’s voice.”
 
=Flashback=
 
“Omma! Wake up! Look I got three stars! The teacher said I was excellent. See, I got three stars. One, two, three stars. Omma! Why aren’t you waking?” Mimi tried to shake her mom while showing her hands with stars stamped on it.
“Mimi. Mimi-ah. My daughter.” Ji Ae saw herself lying at her bed, dead. She gasped while tears started falling on her eyes.
“OMMA!!” Mimi loudly cried.
“Mimi-ah. I’m so sorry. I'm so sorry I had to leave.” Ji Ae cries as she saw her body taken away by the ambulance.
Even if Byunghun knew about her mother’s death, he didn’t came to see her. Neither did his grandparents did.
The night when Ji Ae’s body was already buried, Mimi locked her room, crumpled in her bed with her mother’s picture in her embrace.
*I wanna see you Eomma. I badly wanna see you.* she thought as tears continue flowing from her eyes.
“I miss you so much. My baby Mimi.” Ji Ae longingly sat beside her bed.
*Omma?!* Mimi’s eyes peaked open. Then she saw her. Her eyes grew wide at her mother’s sight.
*OMMA!!!* Mimi sat straight on her bed, directly smiling widely at her mom. But words were only in her thoughts. She wasn't able to call her mom.
“Y-you can see me?!” Ji Ae happily asked.
 
 
=End of Flashback=